Thomas Marcus Decatur Ward

Thomas Marcus Decatur Ward (1823-1894) was a central leader of African American religious activity in nineteenth-century America and has often been referred to as “the original trailblazer of African Methodism”.In 1854, he took over leadership of an A.M.E. church in San Francisco.Ward was also the first representative of the church to work on the Pacific coast.

Ward was born September 28, 1823 in Hanover, Pennsylvania.His parents and grandparents escaped from slavery and went up to Pennsylvania, later becoming a part of the Underground Railroad.He grew up in Philadelphia and converted to the A.M.E church in 1838 when he was fifteen.When he was 20, Ward received his license to preach and joined the New England Conference when he was 23 in 1846.  He continued to move up the ranks of the church until he was made an elder in 1849. His uncle was also Samuel Ringgold Ward (a famous abolitionist, and minister in Massachusetts). Ward would eventually follow his uncle's footsteps and become a reverend of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, in San Francisco.

Prior to moving to San Francisco, Thomas M.D. Ward was involved with the higher ranks of the church in Pennsylvania as well.Ward was elected secretary of the New England Conference for the territories within the national church.During this conference, Ward also highlights the idea of a "California mission".This mission sent him to San Francisco to spur a religious awareness in the-then territory.The church was very small and impoverished, leading him to obtain other jobs to sustain a lifestyle.Right at the beginning of his tenure, the new church he oversaw was attacked by an arsonist in 1854.His struggles of being a reverend in California was not just applied to money, or random attacks based on racial prejudice, there was also a belief that the California Gold Rush brought a lack of religious importance.  The Gold Rush brought apparent “wickedness” according to Charles Spencer Smith, and there was a struggle for power in San Francisco by Reverend Ward against the gold miners, and numerous groups travelling from Canada and the rest of the country. In San Francisco Ward lived in a small complex on 532 Bush Ln.

Ward acted as a delegate to and was also the chair of the education committee of the Colored convention of California.He also participated in the effort to free Archy Lee.Another thing that Ward did for Lee was that he helped raise 50,000 dollars in 1857 to fund lawyers in three trials which resulted in Lee’s freedom from a Georgia slave master.Ward spent 3,050 additional dollars for a tug boat named The Goliath, with a judge, who arrested the slave master while he attempted to sail back east with Lee as captive.After the beginning of the Civil War, Ward was president of the California Contraband Relief Association and provided funds for the care of the freedmen.In the mid 1860's Ward received the honor of being elected as Bishop to the Pacific Coast at the church's annual conference.

As Ward became more popular and powerful in the church, he was given the opportunities to preach and travel back to the Northeastern portion of the country.Then after years of service on the west coast, Ward was assigned to the fifth district of the church.With Ward now living in Georgia, he presided over numerous general conferences that were held in Georgia.1875 was significant, because it was the first time that whites were invited to the general conference.In one of his sermons, he preached of the importance of education and states that if you, "Encourage learning and you will live; despise it and you will die".Ward was often described as "old man eloquent".Another common description made by his colleagues was that he was an overweight man that charmed his audiences with a resonate voice and his work around the country displayed a man of courage.In the late 1870's, Freedmen University was founded and one of the halls was named Ward Hall after Thomas M.D. Ward.This was an honor dedicated to his work for education for black youth.In 1886, Ward continued this work by creating a coalition of religious figures dedicated to the study of learning.Almost a decade later, Ward died in Jacksonville in June.After his passing, he was taken by fellow church members to be buried in Washington D.C.